Around 100 students from all over the Northeast attended the 2019 Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge. This 17th Annual Northeast Dairy Challenge was hosted by Alfred State on Oct. 17-19. Most activities took place at the RIT Conference Center in Henrietta, near Rochester, NY. Students visited several area dairy farms.

Over the three-day event, students participated in hands-on opportunities that helped them prepare for careers in the dairy industry.

The Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge lets students be part of an educational experience while creating a real-world dairy evaluation. On arrival, students are put into mixed-university teams that they are to work with for the remainder of the competition. The Dairy Challenge strives to incorporate a higher learning atmosphere with practical application to help prepare students for a variety of careers in the dairy industry.

When they arrived on Thursday, Oct. 17, they were bused to their assigned dairy farm that they were expected to evaluate. The goal of the teams is to determine aspects of the farm that can be improved upon and create a presentation for a panel of judges and the farm owners. Students were given time to work and practice on their presentations at the RIT Conference center. When they were not working on presentations they had the opportunity to attend activities such as SkyZone, the career fair, and listen to various different speakers.